Iran’s nuclear company tasked to develop research reactors

TEHRAN – Nuclear Power Production & Development (NPPD) Company of Iran is now tasked to design, construct and utilize research reactors in line with the goals and missions of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI).

The news was announced on Saturday in an order by Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri to AEOI chief Ali Akbar Salehi.

Reinstated as the AEOI chief on Thursday, Salehi is one of the main figures in the historic nuclear agreement aimed to settle the long-standing dispute with the West over Iran's nuclear program.

Under the July 2015 nuclear agreement, which was signed between Iran and six world powers, the EU and E3+3 countries and international participants will engage in joint projects with Iran, including through IAEA technical cooperation projects, in the field of peaceful nuclear technology, including nuclear power plants, research reactors, fuel fabrication, agreed joint advanced R&D such as fusion.

In January, the AEOI announced that it had started injecting uranium hexafluoride (UF6) into advanced domestically-manufactured centrifuge machines, known as IR-8, to launch an important phase of the country’s research and development plans.

The AEOI noted that Iran’s research and development plans will continue incessantly in all sectors of peaceful nuclear activities, including uranium enrichment, in order to supply fuel for research reactors.